This is what a buddy has been telling me lately. This guy is convinced that he has to buy a house. All that he’s talking about is buying a place and having his own home. He’s so in love with the idea of being a homeowner that he doesn’t really think about much else. He forgets the fact that is job is unstable and that he has little savings. He’s not afraid of the debt. He just wants to own a home to tell people that he owns a home.

So I got into a debate with him, as any good friend would do. I looked past the normal expenses and problems with buying a place.

What are expenses that you should be expecting as a homeowner that you might not expect?

Landscaping.

Landscaping isn’t easy or cheap. You need to always stay on top of your lawn. From the basic grass cutting in the summer to shovelling the snow in the winter. This will cost you time and money.

If you enjoy sleeping in or relaxing, you won’t be too happy with Mother Nature when the snow storms hit and you’re stuck scraping ice off your window.

You’ll also be in for a surprise when you see how much it costs to buy a new lawn mower or just to replace shovels. This is money that you wouldn’t have to spend if you were renting an apartment or living in a condo.

Furniture.

What will you put in your home? Where will people sit or sleep over?

We all overlook furniture because we figure that we can always buy something for cheap or get second-hand items off friends. That’s not the case. In reality, the second you see that extra bedroom, you’re going to want to spruce it up.

Is a couch cheap? Not really. You could easily spend thousands of dollars to fix a place up and furnish it nicely.

Home maintenance.

What about the equipment that makes your home function? Your furnace could break down. A window could break. Anything could break.

Guess what? You’re on the hook for everything. That’s tons of money that you need to spend just to maintain your home. Are you ready for that?

What do you think your expenses will be like? I bet that expenses you never imagined could creep up on you.

What’s the point of all of this? I just want you to sit down, run the numbers, calculate how much you need to buy a home, and then save some more on top of that. You need to have a nice cushion when you buy a home because you don’t want to put your life savings into your mortgage and then have nothing left for anything else.